Hi! Time for yet another chapter of NCM! Today, it's Monday again at school for the guys, and the No Class Ever talk seems to have died down, but poor Russell will be in for a big surprise after school. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Moving on!

Chapter 4: The Monster's Target

The gang hadn't seen Rudy for the whole weekend. All they knew was that he was busy with something. They figured he was still upset about the whole 'No Class Ever' thing, and needed time to himself. Perhaps he would feel better today.

Classes would soon start, as the guys (minus Rudy) shuffled into the classroom. By then, an announcement was made on the speakers.

"Good morning, students and staff. Last week, we've heard complaints about the subject of 'No Class Ever'. Because of this, we humbly ask that anybody refrain from using the phrase again. Anybody who does otherwise will suffer major consequences. Thank you, and have a good day."

The guys, Russell especially, sighed in relief. The school actually decided to do something about it, "Hey, hey, hey. What did I say?" Albert asked with a smile, "I knew the teasing wouldn't last long."

"Wait 'til Rudy hears about this..." Harold added, "He'll be jumping for joy."

Speaking of the rich boy, he walked into the room and took his seat, "D-D-Did you h-hear?" Donald asked, "The principal told everybody to stop talking about what happened between you and Russell. Nobody can talk about it again. Isn't that great?"

Rudy grinned, "Well, you dudes can thank me for that."

"What did you do?" Bill asked out of curiosity.

"Simple. I went to the principal and complained. It wasn't hard really."

"Oh... well, good for you Rudy..."

Bill then turned to his brother, "Hear that, Rus? No need to feel overwhelmed anymore."

"Yeah..." Russell replied, but deep down... he didn't feel so happy. And he didn't know why. He should be relieved that the comments and such would be put to an end, but he had a feeling... a deep feeling that things weren't looking so good yet.

He felt that... something else was going to happen.

The child looked over at Rudy, who instantly made eye contact. The older boy smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Russell just nodded back, still feeling unsure. That's when Rudy leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Hey, meet me in room 225 later after school. I wanna talk to you..."

Talk to him?

About what?

Russell didn't know what to expect, but he nodded anyway, "Okay..." He whispered back.

The school day went by pretty fast. In Russell's classes, nobody made any mention of 'No Class Ever', so it looked like the announcement made an effect on the student body. As he was finishing his last class, he remembered Rudy's request to meet him in a room. But at the same time, he should be waiting for Bill to come to get him. Also, Melba invited him to her house later on to play.

"Maybe it'll be quick..." He said to himself as he tried to find the room. After climbing some stairs, he finally found what he was looking for. The boy opened the door and walked in. It was an empty classroom...

Where was Rudy?

"Rudy... Rudy... you here...?" He called.

As he started to look around, he heard the door close. Russell turned to see Rudy standing there, smiling, "Hey, right on time, Rus. Good to see you..." He greeted as he walked towards the boy.

Russell felt uncomfortable hearing his nickname being called by anyone other than his brother, but he decided not to comment on that, "So... what did you want to talk about?" He asked instead.

"Well... you see that the 'No Class Ever' stuff has died down... you happy?"

"Um... yeah, I guess so..."

Rudy looked at him with concern, "You sure...?"

Taking a deep breath, Russell spoke, "Actually... I'm not so sure... I'm glad you did something to stop the comments... but I feel like... things aren't over. I just have this feeling like... something else is gonna happen... something bad."

"Is that so...?"

"Yeah..."

"Well in that case... you're right... shrimp..."

Before Russell could question what Rudy meant, he suddenly felt a hard pain in his face, sending him crashing into desks. Groaning, the small boy looked up and paled. Rudy had this sadistic look on his face, his fists clench, and he was chuckling with a sinister tone.

"You've never been more right..." The rich boy sneered as the child scooted into a corner, "Something bad is gonna happen... and it's gonna happen to you..."

Russell was shaking from head to toe... was this happening again...? Was this really happening again...?

One look in front of him, and it was confirmed... this was happening again.

Rudy smirked evilly as he saw the child tremble in the corner of the room, "You poor shrimp. I thought you'd be braver... but I guess old habits don't die so hard after all..." He chuckled as he advanced towards the boy, who jumped and tried to escape, only to be caught by his arm, "Not so fast, runt. I've got some words to share with you..."

Russell whimpered as he put a hand to his nose, wincing when he saw blood, "W-Why... w-w-why are y-you doing this AGAIN?!"

"It's... because of you..." The rich boy snarled, holding the boy up by his scarf, "This is all your fault. The first week of school... I got nothing but teases, mocking, and shade... because of your 'No class ever' comment. And you got was sympathy because I almost killed you. Well, I almost DIED trying to save you! And you don't see anybody pitying me!"

He threw Russell back to the floor, putting his foot on his stomach to prevent him from getting away, "My reputation is SHOT! I can barely show my face here at school AGAIN! All because of YOU! You RUINED my LIFE, shrimp!"

"B-B-B-B-But..." The small child had no idea what to say, even as Rudy cut him off.

"But what?! Are you gonna say it's not your fault? That's I'm just overreacting?! You know what... I don't care... I don't care if I'm overreacting! I really don't! Because all I care about is getting even! You can say bye bye to the old Rudy for good..."

He took his foot off of Russell, who again tried to escape, and was about to call for his brother. Rudy saw that, and tackled the boy to the ground, pinning him underneath himself. He put a hand Russell's mouth, and the child paled when he saw that large kitchen knife appear and be aimed at his throat.

"Call for you brother, and I'll have him watch as I cut you up slowly and painfully ..." Rudy growled in a threatening tone.

Thee small boy felt tears running down his face, and the blood from his nose drop onto the older boy's hand. He reluctantly nodded. Rudy smirked again with an evil chuckle, "So if I get off of you, you won't run?"

The response he received was a shake of the head.

"Good boy..."

With that, he slowly slid off of Russell. But as soon as the child attempted to stand up, Rudy swiftly grabbed his right arm, and pinned it behind his back, pushing him back onto the floor, startling him.

"Ah! What are you doing? Let me go!" Russell whimpered.

Rudy leaned in, "Making a point. You better not let anybody know about this little... thing... between us, not the student body, not the teachers, not your brother, not even Fat Albert... rat me out, and I'll make sure to make your life an absolute living HELL... got it, shrimp?!"

Again, Russell nodded, sobbing softly.

He then felt Rudy's fingers curling the sleeve of his coat that was pinned before pulling it back. The small child cringed and shivered, confused at what was happening... until he felt teeth sinking into his arm. He wanted to let out a scream so badly but feared of what would happen.

Rudy bit harder and harder into the boy's arm, making sure he could taste blood. After about fifteen seconds, he stopped biting and looked at his work with a grin, "Just wanting to make my mark on you... so that you know who you're dealing with..."

He released the child, and Russell cringed at the gruesome bite marks on his arm. Rudy had bitten through the flesh and blood dripped out slowly. He looked at Rudy, who once again held his knife, "You made me this way, Russell... your 'no class ever' comment started all of this... and now... I'm your worst nightmare... the No Class Monster..."

Rudy reached down to scoop up the blood from Russell's nose, and licked it, savoring the taste, "Alright, shrimp... you can go and wait for your brother... but remember... not one word of this. Got it?!"

Russell nodded quickly and sprinted out of the room as fast as he could.

As for Rudy, he chuckled at his new found personality. Maybe being evil wasn't so bad after all...

Russell ran down the stairs and out of the building, before stopping by the entrance where he is supposed to wait for Bill. He didn't see anybody, so at least Bill wouldn't be mad at him for not being there. The little boy tried to catch his breath, his face streaked with tears and blood. What just happened? He honestly thought he and Rudy were going to have a normal conversation...

But nope! Rudy was so furious about the whole 'No Class Ever' thing, he's taking it out on Russell. But why? He didn't do anything... did he...?

As he started to think this over, Russell saw his brother coming. Remembering his bloody nose, he quickly covered part of his face with his scarf in an attempt to hide his injury.

"Hey, Russell. C'mon, we're heading to the ice cream parlor to study." Bill greeted him, before he quickly noticed his brother's current appearance, "Hey, why you got your scarf over your mouth like that...?"

"It... it..." Russell struggled to find a good enough excuse, "It... was cold inside the classroom today... so I wanted to cover up some more..."

He was hoping Bill would buy that... if it weren't for the fact that he noticed something else, "Rus... are you bleeding...?"

One look down and Russell could see that the blood was seeping through his scarf. Did Rudy punch him that hard? Before he could move away, Bill grabbed his scarf and pulled it away, revealing the bloody nose, much to his shock, "Oh my goodness! Your nose, what happened?"

Before Russell could explain, he felt his brother taking him back into the building, "Oh, nevermind. Let's get you cleaned up. Hopefully, the nurse is still here..."

One nurse visit later...

Russell was wearing a bandage on his nose and holding an ice pack against it. Thankfully, his nose wasn't broken, but there was some swelling, and a small cut (thus the bandage), and the nurse was able to stop the bleeding...

And from what Bill could tell, his brother must have fallen, unaware of what truly happened.

"Bill... I... I wanna go home..." He told his brother as they walked down their street. As much as he hated to miss out on some ice cream, he knew that the rest of the gang would be there, meaning that Rudy would be there too. And after what just happened, Russell did not want to see him again at the moment.

"You do?" Bill asked, "Don't you want any ice cream...?"

"Not right now... I just wanna go home... please..."

"Okay, little man. I'll drop you off, and I'll see if I can bring back some ice cream for ya... that is if it doesn't melt."

"Okay. Thanks..."

And so, Russell was taken home and, after Bill explains the nose issue to their mother, he decided he wanted to rest. He had his mother call Melba to let her know that he wouldn't be coming. Thankfully, she understood and said they could meet up the next day if he wanted to.

As he lied down on his bed, the little boy recounted what happened with Rudy. He was terrified. He had no idea WHY Rudy was doing all of this again. Why he was being hostile, furious, and angry again.

... Was it his fault...?

"All I did was say 'No Class Ever'..." He said to himself, "He got mad, beat me up, later saved my life, and then we were all good... and now, people know about it, he's mad again... and he's blaming me... but I didn't do anything this time..."

As Russell continued to think, he thought back to the things Rudy said...

"This is all your fault. The first week of school... I got nothing but teases, mocking, and shade... because of your 'No class ever' comment. And you got was sympathy because I almost killed you. Well, I almost DIED trying to save you! And you don't see anybody pitying me!"

Slowly, it was starting to become clear. The more it became clear, the more tears started to form in Russell's eyes, "Man... I think it is my fault... ever since I said what I said, people have been giving me more love... and Rudy more hate. When honestly, he's been through as much as me..."

The little child began to sob softly, feeling as if he is responsible for everything, "I... I need to do something... but I dunno what... and I'm scared... but... if Rudy wants revenge... well, I guess he'll have to get it... looks like I have to face the 'No Class Monster...'"

Uh oh. Looks like Rudy made a frightened expression on Russell, and now the poor boy is left wondering if maybe he's responsible for Rudy's new 'tude. Next chapter, we'll get a nightmare scene, another confrontation between Rudy and Russell, and some sweet brotherly moments between Russell and Bill. Until then, I'll see you guys later. And as always, don't forget to review, please. Thank you!